By: Natalia Trita Agnika

Elephant Flying Squad or precisely Elephant Patrol Team is a team consisting of handlers/mahouts and trained elephants. The team, introduced by WWF-Indonesia and the Tesso Nilo National Park Center since 2004, is tasked with driving wild elephants that enter community gardens back to their habitat in Tesso Nilo National Park so as to reduce conflict between elephants and humans.

Flying Squad elephants in Tesso Nilo National Park have the same life as wild elephants in nature. The trained elephants are allowed to live in the forest and are not captive. What distinguishes them from wild elephants is that they have a physical exercise schedule and a patrol schedule twice a week in the morning for two hours each patrol. The Flying Squad elephants are well taken care of by veterinarians.

Because their lives are maintained and they can still interact with wild elephants in their habitat, Flying Squad elephants can also reproduce with wild elephants. This is also what happened recently to a Flying Squad female elephant named Ria. Since May 2016, by the Flying Squad Team and veterinarians, Ria's elephant is thought to be pregnant. This can be seen from her behavior, which has a high appetite for food and drink and frequent urination. In addition, Ria's elephant walked rather slowly. After being examined by drh. Annisa Wandha Sari (WWF-Indonesia) and drh. Muchlis (Pelalawan District Livestock Service Office), it was discovered that Ria was pregnant. In September 2017, an ultrasound examination showed that Ria's pregnancy was approximately 15 months old.

Good news came. Ria elephant gave birth to a male calf on Tuesday (21/11) at 07.00 WIB. At the opening of the Tesso Nilo National Park Festival, the calf was then named Harmony Rimbo, by Pelalawan Regent, H.M. Harris. The mother and calf continue to be monitored by the Flying Squad team, veterinarians, and officers from the Tesso Nilo National Park Center.

Harmony Rimbo is good news following the birth of the elephant Rimbani in June 2016. Elephants are mammals with the longest gestation period. An individual elephant generally carries a pregnancy for more than 18 months, sometimes even up to two years. In general, a female elephant aged 60 to 70 years can only have four offspring. Therefore, every new birth of a baby elephant is always welcomed with joy because it gives new hope.< br />

Director General of KSDAE, Wiratno, who was present directly in Tesso Nilo National Park stated, "The birth of elephants in Tesso Nilo National Park must encourage all stakeholders that there is still hope for Tesso Nilo National Park." He added, "Tesso Nilo National Park is a priority for the Ministry of Environment and Forestry to restore its ecosystem functions to support the sustainability of biodiversity in it, including Sumatran elephants."

Nurchalis Fadhli, Program Manager of WWF-Indonesia Central Sumatra Program stated, "Tesso Nilo National Park has only 25% of its forest left. The birth of this elephant calf gives hope and can be a reminder that we need to share space for all creatures, including elephants."

Hopefully we can protect the Tesso Nilo forest so that it returns to being a proper jungle as a habitat for Sumatran elephants.

Always be healthy Harmoni Rimbo!